INSTITUTE OF CURRENT WORLD AFFAIRS

WGM-6 Akandevej 7 and the Air Age- III I,i Tle Vaerlse Mr. Richard H, Nolte 15 November 1965 Executive Director Institute of Current World Affairs 366 Madison Avenue New York 17 New York Dear Di ck If the idea of flying to Greenland by rapid jet is becoming commonplace the present connections in Greenland which distribute passengers and mail along the west coast are not, For the first time anywhere helicopters have completely replaced a pre-existing air route operated with fixed-wing aircraft, Greenland ts new helicopter network is the third in the world using SikorsIcy S-61N jet (turbine) helicopters, The other two are BEAIs route from Penzance England to the Scilly Isles and the East Pakistan operation reported on by Louis I)upree of American University Field Staff in Volo VIII no. 6 of the South Asia Series (1964), Local helicopter service in .Greenland therefore is big news for northern areas and points to a possible future trend in other ru_ged areas of the North Helicopters were introduced for scheduled flying in Greenland in June 1965, The air service it replaced was also of recent date, This air service with Catalinas and 0tters as well as events leading up to formation of Grnlands- .,fly A/S was outlined in WGM-5o

When KGH decided to approach another company to take over flying in Greenland Scandinavian Airlines System (SAS) was the natural choice. Between KGH and SAS lengthy preliminary negotiations took place for establishing internal civil flying routes in Greenland. But before these negotiations had been completed a company had to be set up quickly because of an American desire for a Danish company to take over supply and personnel transport to their stations in Greenland, The Americans could deal with a private company but not the Danish overnment; the contract terms for American transport needs moreover. would almost certainly yield a sure profit, Therefore on 7 November 1960 Grnlandsfly A/S was founded by the Cryolite Company {Kryolitselskabet "resnd.1.! A/S and SAS with a total share capital of 500,00 r0'er.- Because of the rushed nature of founding this company and also because a Danish national election was pending it was not possible to get agreement from government authorities as to the Starers participation in the company, Later the original share capital was expanded by 250000 kroner on KGHIs (State) behalf and by another 250000 kroner in 1962 so that the Greenlandic people represented by the Greenlandic Parliament (Landsraad) could participate as a share-holder with 1/4 interest, This latter financial interest by Landsraad was approved by a vote of 9-4 in Greenland those in the minority believing that money could be better used in other ays in Greenland, The new company Grnl ands fl y agreed to undertake flying to Canada and Iceland for American military interests-in Greenland and also to supply several WGM-6 -2-

DEW line stations in Greenland. The flying for American transport requirements was carried out in one DC-4 and two Sikorsky 55 helicopters rented for this purpose. The helicopters were chartered from Kenting Helicopters Ltd. and the DC-4 from Icelandair. The DC-4 flew irregularly between Cape .Dyer on Baffin Island, Sndre Strmfjord, and in East Greenland. rnlandsfly had nothing to do rith route flying in Greenland until May 1962 when it formally took over the internal traffic by air from KGH. Booking and ticket handling as well as boat transportation out to aircraft was handled locally by KGH. For the internal route flying in Greenland Grnlandsfly continued to charter the services of Eastern Provincial Airways. One advantage of the charter arrangement with EPA as that Danish personnel were used to some extent thus providing Grnl ands fly with a pool of trained personnel. One feature of Grnlandsfly's organization is rather unusual and should be noted carefully. Air transport of material and personnel for the American interests in Greenland is kept separate from the second function of internal flying in Greenland. As KGH's director Hans C. Christiansen said to the 1962 Landsraad meeting the American contract "gives a nice profit". Internal flying on the other handy shows only a deficit which the State makes good. The books are kept separately so that the profit from the American contrac is paid in dividends to the four shareholders while the loss from regular route flying is not borne by the shareholders but by the State. Dividends paid by Grnl ands fly are however limited to 6 of invested capital any remainder is reinvested in new plant.

Grnlandsflyts Managing Direetor Vo Lauritzen, outlines helicopter routes in Greenland to his assistant Jrgen WGM-6 -3-

Share capital in Grnlandsfly was increased from 1 million to 2 million kroner on 3 December 1964 with the same four shareholders having equal interest: SAS the Cryolite Company Royal Greenland Trade Company (KGH) and the Greenlandic Parliament (Landsraad)o

At a meeting in January 1964 Grnlandsfly decided upon use of helicopters for route flying in Greenland. At the same time it bought a DC-4 aircraft to fly the Canadian-East Greenland service with trips to Thule at irregular intervals. In the spring of 1964 the Greenland Technical Organization got the task of building six heliports in West Greenland. These were finished quickly and by November 1964 pads were to be found at Julianehaab Frederiks- haab Godthaab Sukkertoppen Holsteinsborg and Egedesminde, In August 1964 Grnlandsfly signed a contract with United Aircraft International (Sikorsky Division) to buy three jet helicopters of the type S-61N for a total of 25 million kroner including spare parts and various polar equipment. Financing was through a loan from the Danish Government to be paid back through KGH in ten years at 6-6 interest, For the first time helicopters were delivered outside the United States by being flown instead of crated and shipped, The delivery itself showed what could be done in northern flying, The first two S-61Ns flew together to Greenland from Stratford Connecticut via Montreal Mont Joli Sept Iles Schefferville Fort Chimo Frobisher and Cape Dyer. After putting in about 300 hours of test flying in Greenland the two new helicopters named "Ugpik" (owl) and "Nagtoralik" (eagle) were set into regular Greenland flying in June 1965, The third chopper delivered in August takes care of the American contract and serves as stand-by during repair and ser- vicing of the other wo, The two route helicopters are flying 20 flights a week between them for a total of 35 flying hours,

The S-61N's are magnificent machines, Each carries a 5-bladed rotor driven by two gas turbines (General Electric CT 58-110) and can carry 26 passengers (24 in Greenland in order to enlarge the baggage compartment) at a top speed of 241 kilometers/hour cruising speed 226 kilometers/hour range 740 kilometers. The Greenland helicopters are modified for service down to -40F, have additional fuel capacity of 225 gallons extra equipment for cabin heating and special tie-down provisions for winds up to 105 knots,

As I mentioned previously Greenland is the first place in he world where helicopters have completely replaced an existing conventional airline, Even more important for the first time helicopters have been set in regular scheduled routes under polar conditions, lelicopters are a direct answer to the rugged topographic conditions in Greenland which make landing strips difficult and costly to build,

It is perhaps too early and a bit unfair to make judgment on the heli- copters performance in this their first season The inevitable initial difficulties were encountered. The biggest problem will be Greenlandls Weather conditions, Winter operation has only just begun at this time in Greenland so that possible cold weather problems remain unknown. As yet S-61N's are not equipped for operating on IFR (instrument flight rules) and must therefore fly with sight of ground (VFR) at all times rith a minimum ceiling of 500 feet and visibility of 5 kilometers. It is estimated that such conditions will be encountered during 200 days out of the year in Greenlando The Greenland helicopters can be equipped with IFR instruments after IFR opera- tions for helicopters are approved by Danish Civil Aviation authorities, who traditionally wait for United States FAA approval.

Although no previous rules exist for instrument flying in helicopters, it would appear only a matter of time before IFR approval is given Regulations for IFR operations will probably limit passengers to one-half present heli- copter capacity and will probably demand proven hovering ability at a certain altitude on one motor Clearly, in order to allow any regularity in route flyin at ally Grnlandsfly must get instruments for their operations in Greenland. Grnlandsfly paid extra for helicopters which could accommodate instruments when approval for IFR operations came through.

In the first months of operation, weather often grounded the helicopters with passengers having sometimes to wait days for connections to ndre StrUm- fjord. Hotel sleeping accommodations, alays tight in Greenland, were strained beyond capacity, especially at Sndre Strmfjord. At times, regular SAS flights from were canceled because of passenger backlog in Greenland.

The hourly operating cost for helicopters is high (4-5,000 kroner). It

Grnlandsfly's two new helicopters arriving in Greenland. WGM-6

Grnlandsfly's flying routes in Greenland is estimated that the cost to the State for internal flying in Greenland will be about 3.8 million kroner yearly and since most passengers are being flown on Danish government business ticket revenues are largely coming from the State too,

In an attempt to bring income and costs a bit closer together for all coastal transport in Greenland both air and ship ticke prices were raised in April 1965. Air tickets went up 50 ship tickets 25. A ticket to Julianehaab from Godthaab for example now costs 480 kroner by air and 228 kroner by ship. In 1963 22,500 passengers were carried by all transport means along Greenland's west coast. Of these 8800 traveled with the three ain coastal ships 4500 with smaller coastal vessels and 9.00 with various ships arriving from Denmark. The remainder (9000) went by air,

KGHIs internal prognosis for Greenland shows an increasing number of passen,ers expected in the coastal traffic. By 1970 36000 passengers are forecast so that coastal vessels will still be needed. Roughly two-thirds of the passengers coming to Greenland from Denmark go to the area between Sukkertoppen and Cape Farewell. The remainder go to the area north of Holsteinsborg with about 5 to Upernavik Umanak and Thule districts, In coastal raffic Godthaab is important one-third of all persons traveling in Greenland are either going to or coming from the capital. Egedes- minde accounts for 14 of all coastwise passengers while each of the other towns accounts for less han 8o Not only are more people traveling to or from Godthaab than any other town but most of these passengers are traveling between Godthaab and Sndre Strmfjord. Unfortunately, the Godthaab- Sndre Str_mfjord leg is the longest in Greenland (1 hour 45 minutes by helicopter).

Most air passengers in Greenland travel in the 6-month period May-0ctober but this seasonal trend is expected to even out with the new helicopters.

Grnlandsflyts new helicopters connect with SAS jet flights on the Los Angeles-Copenhagen route r or special flights from Denmark. If the present annual population groh rate of 3,5 continues by 1984 the Greenlandic population will reach 60000o During this timer personal incomes will also be increasing so that more and more people will be traveling for business \and pleasure ih Greenland. The very existence of a rapid com- fortable and reasonably regular air route in West Greenland will no doubt stimulate an interest in local travel by Greenlanders as well as by tourists from Europe and North America,

The new helicopters in Greenland are part of a very small operation com- pared with the 1800 helicopters in use in the United States for route traffic (which like that in GreenlandA is also supported by government subsidy), Although a small operation 6rnlandsfly plays an important part in today's tempo of development in Greenland and will continue to do so as the passenger traffic between Denmark and Greenland increases each year, Another potential for helicopters already demonstrated in [email protected] is in air-sea rescue work, On 3 July 1965 one of 6rnlandsfly's helicopters plucked from the sea an injured West German fisherman from the trawler nKap Walloe" 37 kilometers southwest of Julianehaab. Because of ice conditions and high seas this rescue mission could be carried out only by helicopter, Depending on demand and suitable landing facilities Grnl ands fly hopes to expand its service to include Grnnedal Ivigtut Narssaq and Nanortalik in the south plus Godhavn Christianshaab and Jakobshavn in the north, Some day Umanak and Upernavik might even be included,

The suitability of helicopters in Greenland will be interesting to watch in the future. If some sort of regularity can be maintained until such time as instruments are approved for IFR operaions helicopters should prove a successful adaptation innorthern flying. They are certainly as reliable and safe as other means, of air travel, Greenland Ws stormy and cloudy weather willy at times hinder their operations--at the same times when conventional aircraft would also be grounded, Sincerely

W. G. attox

Photograph on page 8 One of Grnlandsfly's new S-61N helicopters in front of the Sikorsky factory in Stratford Connecticut. (Photo by courtesy of Grin1 ands fly A/S) -

Photos on pages 4 and 6 are copyright Nordisk Pressefoto A/S, used with permission. Grnlandsfly's staff in Copenhagen kindly supplied for this letter much of the information on their new helicopters.

Received in New York November 18, 1965.